Pixotope 1.2 release

• End to End Color Management

• Optional true HDR Real-time Compositing

• 3 process Color Grading System

• Improved Compositing System

• Improved Video Keyer and Media Input Quality

• Combined AR and VS compositing

• Improved Workflows

• Improved Control Panel

• Updated Calibration and Example Projects

• Native integration with Unreal 4.23.1

• and much more

Pixotope now offers an end to end color management and compositing system that unlocks a true HDR real-time cinematic visual effects compositing workflow. The new 3 process color grading and improved compositing system completes Pixotope’s unparalleled and easy to use creative pipeline. Tweak till the last minute.

The Future Group have incorporated our clients valuable feedback and further improved workflow and usability. Our latest version offers numerous improvements such as, the ability to import setup configurations, as well as to output the key from the chroma keyer on SDI.

Version 1.2 now gives users access to the full power of the Unreal Engine 4.23.1 including real-time ray tracing.

End to End color management and optional true HDR real-time compositing

In Pixotope 1.2 we are proud to introduce an end to end color management system for real-time compositing using the Academy Color Encoding System (ACES) and OpenColorIO (OCIO). Having a modern color management system readily available is a must for customers looking for an accessible and configurable HDR workflow.

OpenColorIO with ACES support

OpenColorIO is an open-source color pipeline with two major goals: consistent color transforms, and consistent image display, across multi-application cinematic color pipelines.

The Academy Color Encoding System is an industry standard for managing color throughout the life cycle of a motion picture or television production. It ensures a consistent color experience that preserves the creative vision and solves the problem of the increasing variety of digital cameras and formats such as Sony S-Log, Arri LogC, Panasonic V-Log.

Three process Color grading system

Pixotope’s color-grading system now features 3 independent color correction processes. Pixotope offers a properly color managed system that does all color processing in scene-referred linear gamma space, allowing independent color correction for video, graphics and final output without risk of losing fidelity or quality at any step of the process. This makes color grading more intuitive, giving you the result you are looking for more easily.

Improved Compositing system

We are very proud to have developed the market’s fastest lossless high-end render and compositing pipeline for virtual productions, achieved by our proprietary render and compositing technology. 

Pixotope 1.2 offers an easily accessible true scene-referred linear compositing workflow including SDR to HDR upscaling.

Scene-referred compositing is the most realistic way of compositing video and 3D graphics. It significantly improves:

• Shading and lighting

• Motion blur, defocus, image distortion, resizing

• Anti-aliasing

• Semi-transparent elements, hair, volumetrics, FX elements, etc

With the improved AR compositing we introduce fine global and per light shadow controls including shadow intensities, luma masking from plate to avoid double shadowing, custom shadow colors and ambient offset to avoid hard shadow intersection. Additionally it allows virtual lights to illuminate live environments through our light catcher system.

For backwards compatibility you can use the Video space compositing mode. This mode produces results which are identical with legacy video mixing approaches.

Improved Video Keyer and Media Input Quality

The video keyer features many improvements - improved respill usability, decreased noise on the chroma key edge, increased bit depth of the shadow mask, added luma keying and better luma controls to avoid "haloing".

Media Inputs have been improved by avoiding anti aliasing and adding optional mip-mapping.

Combined AR and VS compositing

Pixotope 1.2 offers simplified compositing by combining AR (Augmented Reality) and VS (Virtual Studio/Set) in a single UI, thereby opening up new creative possibilities when used concurrently within the same level.

Workflow improvements

Import Setup configurations from projects & machines

Pixotope is designed to function in a live production environment which includes strict configuration separations between projects. Pixotope 1.2 introduces the ability to import setup configurations from machines and projects directly from within the Director.

Output Chroma keyer key on SDI NEW

In Pixotope, 1.2 you can choose to override the configured output to view the key on the SDI outputs, being able to view the key without having to leave Live mode.

Introducing GUI Camera Mount

Pixotope’s redesigned camera tracking configuration and calibration panels now properly support different types of camera mounts, especially cranes. We have also focused on making clearer what the different parameters correspond to in the physical camera systems.

Improved Engine API performance

In Pixotope 1.2 we have refactored part of our API to optimize data transport which leads to improved performance when interacting with the Engine from Director or a third party integration.

Improved Control Panel

Pixotope 1.2 features a cleaned up interface that is more reactive and easier to use. With smaller widget sizes you are now able to pack even more widgets on to one panel.

Updated Calibration and example projects

As part of Pixotope 1.2, we have updated our included calibration project and added a new section to the user’s Cloud pages where you can download our updated Pixotope example projects. It includes three demo projects that showcase some of the capabilities of the software including:

• Fully rigged and textured AR character

• Fully functional Virtual Studio Interior

• Exterior virtual environment with weather effects

All projects include animations and their own control panel for you to play with.

Unreal Engine 4.23.1

Pixotope 1.2 offers native integration with Unreal 4.23.1. Among a wide range of new features, these are some of the highlights we think are particularly useful to Pixotope users:

• Chaos - Destruction (Beta)

• Real-Time Ray Tracing Improvements (Beta)

• Virtual Texturing (Beta)

• Animation Streaming (Experimental)

• Editor Performance Improvements

• Python Import/Export FBX

• Pro Video Codecs

See Unreal Engine release notes for a full list of features. For a complete changelog go to login.pixotope.com